The rise in women reporting domestic abuse by their partners is being reflected in West Cork
West Cork Beacon, a Bantry based support service for women, says the number of women they are assisting has trebled over the last decade and they now have 300 cases on their books
Nationally the number of reports of sexual abuse rose by almost a third - physical abuse by over a fifth - while there was a 5 per cent increase in reports of financial abuse.
Marie Mullholland of West Cork Beacon says she believes one of the reasons the numbers are rising is more women are taking the courageous step to speak out
"In our own local area of West Cork, certainly we would have seen an extra 100 cases a year, we'll be working with about just over 300 women a year. I think that this rise in numbers is because we are getting through to women who are being abused at the promotion of websites of helplines of information"
